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WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

G. Washington

It’s better to live and learn than just live.

Kanye West’s recent public spectacle at the VMAs has caused me to think about what artists can learn from his life. Consider yourself fortunate if you can learn from your mistakes. Consider yourself more fortunate if you can learn from the mistakes of others.

Celebrities are constantly being recorded, photographed and examined by a sometimes unfair press. Living under a microscope accentuates everyone’s flaws, but there is a difference between a mistake and a habit. It’s the difference between a bad judgment call and a bad character defect.

We are all responsible for our own actions and the root cause of our own actions. Lest we get judgmental here, I want to remind us that we usually judge ourselves according to our motives and judge others by their actions.

Here is my short list of eight life lessons we can learn from Kanye:

1. Bears and hearts are cute: try to find a way to use them in your brand.
Maybe not.

2. Everybody needs to be accountable to somebody.
If there’s nobody in your life who can tell you when you’re acting stupid or calling you out for your attitude, you lose. Everybody needs to grow up. Who is helping you?

3. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
I Corinthians 10:23-24 (NLT) “You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial. Don’t be concerned for your own good but for the good of others.” Nuff said…

4. Don’t take credit for what others have created.
Kanye wasn’t the first DJs in a spaceship pyramid stage. Daft Punk did it first. Kanye even used one of their songs as a beat on that album/tour. How many Kanye fans know that?

Kanye:

5. With Autotune, anybody can “sing”.
It doesn’t mean everybody’s a singer, it just means that more and more people are deluded into thinking they can sing. Refer back to this blogpost and #3 on this list…

6. Prosperity ruins a fool.
Proverbs 1:32 (KJV) “the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” Prosperity doesn’t ruin everybody, it just magnifies what’s already on the inside of people. On your way to success? Deal with your heart first.

7. It’s not polite to interrupt.
I’m not defending his actions, I actually agree with Mom on this one. However… It’s easy to judge Kanye for what he did at the VMAs, but how many times have we finished a story someone else started or interrupted a conversation with something we thought was more important to say. Sorry kids, it’s the same thing, same character issue – just a smaller “stage”.

8. Cheer-on other artists who are succeeding, especially those outside your circle.
I love watching kind, humble and gracious artists in action. You will never lose by giving props to anyone who deserves them, even if you don’t really get what they do. It doesn’t always have to be about you – most of the time it’s better if it’s not.

Trust me: it’s better to live and learn than just live. Just ask Kanye…

Day four: Rough mixes and work mixes (stems) for every song. I have never come away from tracking with roughs that sound this good. My partner in crime, Rob has really topped himself in this tracking session.

We were commenting today that 5 years ago neither of us would have predicted being in Nashville doing a bluegrass/americana project… and here we are doing the second one.

Want a preview of the project?

Sounds good right? Uhhh, I mean LOOKS good!

Today, I’m in the final stages of pre-production for a new Strand of Pearls CD. Tracking at a great facility with some of the finest musicians around. Could drop names here, but I would rather have you guessing…

Praying and preparing for extremely productive and creative sessions – this is going to be GREAT!

I’ll be blogging from the studio giving regular updates next week!

Shalom, my friends.